Wildcats and Thundercats

KENTUCKY -3 @ Vanderbilt

The Cats are playing for a bowl bid here and are still bitter about Vandy beating them last year in Lexington. Kentucky already has a win at Auburn, so there is no reason to think they can’t get it done in Nashville. Kentucky also gets some key players back from injury this week with QB Hartline expected to play and WR/RB/QB Cobb also returning.

Vandy has not been able to come close to their solid play from last season. The Commodores are 2-8 overall and even lost to Army. Their only wins have come against lightweights Western Carolina and Rice. Vandy is 0-4 against the spread in their home games and really should not expect too much crowd support for this one.

Kentucky is the more talented team with more to play for; I expect them to get bowl eligible by beating the ‘Dores by 10.

KANSAS STATE pick vs. Missouri

K-State is one of the biggest surprises this year. They had been bad for three years since Coach Snyder retired; now Snyder is back and the Wildcats lead the Big 12 North with a 4-2 conference record. This is Senior Day for K-State and they have a chance to cling a bowl bid against a Mizzou team that is 1-4 in conference play.

One of Missouri’s problems in their Big 12 games is that their offensive staff has been getting badly out-coached at halftime: the Tigers have averaged just 2 points per second half in their five Big 12 games. K-State has a big advantage on special teams in this one. Wildcat return man Banks is 6th in the nation with 31 yards per kickoff return and has 4 returns for TDs. Meanwhile, Mizzou is last in the conference in covering kicks.

A couple of trends favor K-State in this matchup. First, Coach Snyder has won 13 straight games against Missouri. Also, the Wildcats have covered the spread in their last 4 games and 6 of their last 7 games. I like K-State to return a kick for a TD and win this at home.

UNDER 47 – Tennessee @ Mississippi

Picking the Under was the only game that went my way last week, so I’m dipping back into the SEC-Under well again this week. These teams won’t be playing defense on quite the same level as Bama and LSU, but they will play a similar style game and I get an extra TD to work with here.

All the trends point to the Under in this one: 4 of 5 Ole Miss home games have gone under; both of UT’s road games have gone under; the under is 4-1 in Ole Miss’ 5 SEC games and the under is 3-2 in UT’s 5 SEC games.